Crash and Burn
by Daiyu Amaya
Summary: His life had come down to this, a cubical with backstabbing coworkers, His life had effectively crashed and burned, But when word reached him of a mystery that would bring the whole gang back together, who was he to deny fate? Or worse A killer? Don't read if your not capable of dealing with same sex pairings k?thanks!
1. Chapter 1

**Crash and Burn**

**Honestly this came out of left field, I was watching old school scooby doo and this came to be lol Hope you enjoy it, it's a little odd ball but otherwise I think it's ok ^_^**

* * *

**Fred Jones' POV**

The thrill of solving a mystery was one of the few things that kept us together and yet we just couldn't stay together forever, without scooby doo and shaggy our glue we each went our own ways, of course if we had tried to stay together after the loss of them we would have been at each other's throats. But the difference between me and the girls was that I missed it, missed being a group... missed being around shaggy.

"Hey Fred, wanna go get some lunch?"

I turned and smiled at the small blond and her group;

"Naw, I should finish up my paperwork."

She shook her head and the sad smile that sat on her face just annoyed the hell out of me, it's not like I asked to be friendly with her or any of my coworkers. I just sat at my desk did my work and when the day was over I was gone. I didn't want friends really, not anymore. When you lose those people whom you thought you had been close to, well you really start thinking about how good was a friend if they just left you in the end? I knew Shaggy left because we kept using him and Scooby as bait, but they were so good at it! God I missed him, I knew it was more than just missing a friend...I'd had a crush on him for a long time, and in that time I realized that I couldn't tell him. He liked Velma, she'd liked him back but nothing ever happened between them and I couldn't just tell him...I would lose a good friend over something as petty as liking him, he was a good man that was for sure but I was abnormal, a freak in a mask… A mask of normalcy and without that mask before I would have gone mad, Yet now I was going mad, what did I do to fix it?

* * *

I felt exhausted and irritated; my co-workers were a bunch of morons. Little kids, fucking gossip! I couldn't believe them, just because I chose to do things on my own didn't mean that I thought I was better than every one, I wasn't, I was pathetic and worthless and that wasn't going to change for a very long time.

"Excuse me, are you Fredrick Jones?"

I turned to the voice, a pretty young woman with slanted brown eyes that were like two tiger-eye gems. Her luxurious, straight, brown hair very long and she wore a very professional suit, the kind you find in a high priced lawyers office in a midnight blue shade.

"Yes, may I help you?"

She smiled brightly;

"This is for you; an old acquaintance of yours needs some help and well, just read the letter."

A thick white envelope, the kind that Daphne would have never used but her father would have. I took the letter, my name in cursive in a hand I didn't recognize.

"Who-"

She was gone, well damn that was quick, and it those heels? I entered my apartment and attended to my cat Chester and my own hunger before opening the letter.

Dear Fred,

I know it's been a long time since any of us have met up and I hope that you're not too mad at me to help me now. A mystery has become a nightmare and this nightmare involves our group. Someone is out for us, they don't want to ruin us they want our heads... on the second sheet is an address for you; go there in two days at three. I'll be waiting,

Norvile R.

I shivered, someone wanted to kill us? Why was Shaggy even in a mystery? I thought he hadn't really enjoyed it, I thought he wanted away from things like that. I took a peek at the address, Two days huh? I had no work that day, had he found that out or was it just a coincidence? God it had been too long since I had last seen him, or the girls for that matter...Five years had pass since I had last seen him and three for the girls, I had moved away from them because it hurt to be close... I missed the work, I missed the friendship.

* * *

I felt stupid, what if the writer wasn't shaggy but the person out for blood? It would be easy after all, and I didn't recognize the hand writing, not that I would have remembered shag's handwriting, he didn't write around us and the handful of times I had seen his writing it had been a hurried scrawl. I opened the door to the building and entered the sitting room;

"Mr. Jones?"

I nodded politely to the young thin woman, this was a different one. She was just as beautiful though, how was it that he had surrounded himself with pretty women? Could he be sleeping with either of the two I had seen so far?

"If you'll follow me?"

I gestured for her to lead the way, just what was going on? This was an office for sure, it had few people though. I only saw a few employees;

"What company is this? It didn't have a sign..."

She smiled;

"It's Rogers and Rogers."

And she didn't explain any further, Rogers and Rogers? Had he married or was he working with his father...but that didn't make sense Mr. Rogers was a cop...Maybe not in the prime of his life, so if he had changed his mind and chose to become a PI…

"In here sir."


	2. Chapter 2

**Crash and Burn**

* * *

_"In here sir."_

And she left me in front of two white doors, I knocked once before entering. A man had his back to me and was painting, long brown hair tied in a pony tail that still reached mid back. A muscular back covered in a nice white button up if the material was a giveaway and black slacks and dress shoes. His skin that did show was pale, it would probably glow in moon light.

"Um...I was shown here."

A snort;

"I know Fredrick, I ask Vivi to show you here when you arrived."

I felt my mouth fall open as the man turned, this was Shaggy! Not of course as I remembered him, this was not the frail looking in-between boy and man voiced, peach skinned, and peach fuzz teen I had known, no this was a clean shaven, velvety voiced man with thin gold framed glasses perched on his nose, one that had been broken at least once by the look of it. With stray hair hanging out of his ponytail contrasting beautifully with his milk white skin.

"But you arrived a little early, you made it here before the girls... assuming they show up that is."

He placed his paints on a glass table near himself and gestured for me to take a seat;

"Shaggy, what's going on? I mean it has been five years since we last saw each other and you do seem to be doing very well. Why would someone be after you let alone the rest of us?"

He chuckled lightly;

"I'll explain it all when the girls show up. If they don't then I will still but really, did you think I would be the same after five years being free from the shackles of the team? I explored the world Fredrick, I learned new things and found that the world was not lacking but rather the small town we grew up in was, that the people I had surrounded myself were."

I had to admit that stung quite a bit, to have someone whom you'd crushed on tell you were lacking;

"Your right about that, I was pathetic then...still am. So why ask us for help? We don't mean anything to you anymore..."

He barely contained the snarl he wanted to send my way, making me shiver. Who was this man and what happened to shaggy? What happened to the man I had liked all those years?

"Ville?"

Both of our heads snapped to the doorway, A nice looking if rather ethereal blond man was looking into the room, half his body hidden by the door. Another employee? Were the girls here then? And what was with that nickname?

"Oh Richard, please come in. I totally forgot that you wanted to see me."

Richard gave him a rather sly grin;

"Oh you did did you? Hm, I guess you need a better planner?"

Shaggy smiled rather lopsidedly, the kind I had seen on his face when he was looking at goggie... He'd loved her so why was this man getting that look?

"Richard this Is Fredrick Jones."

He looked my way;

"A pleasure to meet you."

He didn't seem too happy about it though, what had I done? Had shaggy told him about the gang and Richard hadn't approved? It wasn't any of his business.

"Are you going to be working late?"

Shaggy moved a few things around a desk that he'd just sat at;

"Mh, no dinners still on. I just wanted to get the group here so that we could talk about what's been going on."

Dinner? Did they live together or something? Shaggy seemed like he had enough money not to have to live with someone, was he being kind to this man?

"Great! Scooby said he'd be late though, his flight was delayed."

Shaggy shook his head;

"I told him that delays were going to happen, it happened last time he was in France."

France? Had Scooby gone traveling without anyone else?

"How long are you going to be with them?"

Shaggy looked at me and I looked down;

"Not long, few hour at most."

Richard pecked Shaggy's cheek and sauntered out of the room. I wanted to ask so many questions, about Scooby, about Richard... About Shaggy's life since he left us.

"Ask away Jones, curiosity only killed the cat after all."

And had almost killed all of us at one point or another.

"Scooby traveled by himself?"

He smiled lightly;

"No, he has a travel companion. She's very fond of great Danes, and is a great professional. A body guard if you will."

So he was protected, that was good.

"He's not coming to this meeting then, because of the delay?"

Shaggy frowned and shook his head;

"He was never coming to this meeting, he told me it was a stupid Idea to drag you all from whatever lives you have."

Life? I had no life, I worked, went home, ate, showered, and went to sleep only to do the same thing the next day. If that was a life I didn't want it.

"Richard?"

His eyes narrowed at the paper he'd been writing on;

"Is not your concern."

my heart gave a painful throb;

"Are you with him?"

He froze before looking my way, standing he walked to my side and sat;

"You leave him alone Jones, Leave him and my relationship out of this. I swear if you say or do anything to upset him I'll beat you into next week."

My eye's widened, he never threated anyone before...or at least not the shaggy I had known. I opened my mouth to reply when the door opened again, both of us looking once more only to see a beautiful red head...Daphne had arrived, and Velma. My what a change! No longer wearing thick glasses but a more modern style and a nice blouse and suit skirt and heels. Her hair was longer too since she managed to get it up.

"Hello, it's been awhile hasn't it. If scooby-doo was here we'd have the whole team wouldn't we?"

Daphne seemed glad to see Shaggy;

"True, but he won't be coming, he's rather busy at the moment."

She nodded and they both sat in various chairs, they were doing quite well themselves... Was I the only one who was going down the drain?

"You know I wouldn't have thought it was you if it wasn't for the fact you were talking with Fred."

oh geez Daphne, Velma laughed;

"Honey honestly I thought you weren't going to assume things anymore?"

Honey? Were they? How out of things was I?

"Why are we here?"

They all gave me a strange look, or at least it was strange to me;

"Look, you all have moved on and I didn't...you were the ones with skills of some sort that would actually come in handy in the real world...I didn't move on, I couldn't and-"

I stood;

"I don't know why I bothered coming."

I made sure not to slam the door on my way out. I couldn't stay there, not with Shaggy threating me not to mess with his boyfriend and the girls together and happy. I walked out to my car. Cursing as I dropped my keys, I knew I didn't mean anything to them...How could I? I was the stupid one, the one whose only skill was traps...that was no skill whatsoever. I couldn't see them like this and ruin the image I had of them...

"Why are you running off?"

I inhaled and turned. Richard, oh god what did he want?

"I...I don't have to talk to you."

He frowned;

"Your upset, come on back into the building. You're not fit to drive right now."

He lightly grabbed my arm and I allowed him to take me back into the building. He led me into what looked like a break room and fixed us two cups. Sitting at the table and drinking coffee with a man who had gotten what I had wanted so badly was not a comfortable thing.

"Spill it, why were you so upset?"

Shaggy was different, he threated me that if I hurt you he'd hurt me? I couldn't just out and say that.

"It was just hard seeing the old gang and realizing that…That all of them had lives..."

My eyes stung as I tried to hold back the tears, It really did hurt because of that but also because they could care less about me...that Shaggy could care less about me.

"You really cared about them all didn't you? That's what's hurting you so much, that they didn't miss you as much as you missed them."

I felt a tear stray from my eye and wiped at it, It didn't matter if he saw me as a weakling, he must have thought I was a pathetic loser already...

"I always cared, I just couldn't show it all that well."

He nodded and got this far away look on his face;

"When I first met norville I thought he was the strangest guy ever, him and scooby-doo. They were withdrawn and depressed. That was five years ago, A few months after he had left you all. Since then, he's become a great man...He's very caring and charming."

I looked away, of course he was those things you're going out with him.

"This hurts you, why?"

I looked back into those moss greens and felt a part of me finally give up;

"I was hurt when he left...more than the girls because I liked him. I thought I couldn't tell him that I liked him, and here we are five years later and he's with an incredibly handsome man who he seems to love a lot..."

I swiped my face again and shook my head;

"Thank you for the coffee."

I stood but a hand grabbed my wrist;

"You loved him?"

I bit my lip;

"I don't know...I hid myself away, hell just forget I said anything please...It doesn't matter anymore. He has you now."

I ripped my arm from his grip and once more headed to my car, hopefully no one else would try to stop me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Crash and Burn **

**Chapter Three**

* * *

**Richard's P.O.V**

"Ville?"

He looked up from his arms and desk, the two women having just left him. I closed the door and made my way to him;

"That didn't quite go the way I thought it would."

I snorted and sat down on the other side of his desk;

"Oh?"

He smiled bitterly;

"I didn't think Fredrick would leave like that...I didn't do my research all that well I guess, He seemed so. So beaten you know? I thought he would be happy like Daphne and Velma...but he seems so depressed."

I nodded, well that's what happened when you lost your loved ones...lost someone whom he cared about so deeply...I suspected he must have loved Norville, and those tears were not faked. He was truly lost and frightened;

"You didn't happen to threaten him at any point did you?"

He looked ashamed;

"Oh Norville, you shouldn't have...He was already hurt, he wasn't going to persecute you."

He frowned at me;

"How could you know that?"

I smiled shyly;

"I pulled him away from his car before he could leave the first time...he wasn't fit to drive, he told me something of himself that made me one hundred percent sure that he wouldn't have hurt you that way or hurt me."

That got his attention, but Fredrick was wrong about one thing, I wasn't going out with norville, we had a very close relationship sure, but we weren't that way. I was like his little brother, sure we'd had sex before but he'd told me that he hadn't loved me and wished he could. He had loved someone once and that had been painful when they didn't return the feeling.

"Oh gods, he...what did he say to you?"

I smiled lightly;

"He seemed to be under the impression that you were my boyfriend, I got the impression that he must have really cared for you. I asked him if he loved you and he said he didn't know."

Ville gave me a strange look;

"Fredrick's as straight as an arrow, he wouldn't..."

I sighed loudly;

"He admitted that he liked you, that it was the reason he was so hurt when you left the group."

* * *

**Fred's P.O.V**

I had to stop this; I couldn't weep like this over something I had never had. He was in love with Richard and he hated me, the girls were happy so that meant their worlds were better off without me. Maybe I shouldn't have even bothered to come...I couldn't do this anymore, their hatred burned at my soul and I couldn't ever fix it without leaving them to their own devices. I didn't have anyone to live for cept Chester, maybe mom would take him in? I looked at the razor in my hand; Shaggy had given me it for my eighteenth birthday. It was a beautiful bit of work, old fashioned so it wasn't safe to use on my face but the thought had been nice, nice enough that I had kept it...now it would finally be useful. I pressed it into the soft flesh of my wrist, up the street not across. Someone knocked on the door; I frowned already a little woozy from the long cut up my arm. How long had it been? The knock came once more, well too bad surprise visitor or solicitor I was leaving.

* * *

**shaggy's P.O.V**

"I wonder where he is. His car is here."

I nodded at Richard; it was true the car was here so where was he? I twisted the nob and found that Fred hadn't locked his door, had he really been that upset the he'd forget to lock the door?

"Fredrick?"

Richard slipped past me and into the living room, it was rather bare...almost as if no one really lived here just left a few things behind, I looked in the kitchen, no one;

"Norville! Quick call nine one one! He's hurt really bad!"

I dialed and made my way to the back rooms to find them, Richard was crouched next to the bathroom doorway talking softly to Fredrick I assumed. I went to stand by him as the operator picked up;

"What's your emergency?"

Oh my god! Fredrick!

"Hello?"

I snapped out of it and told her the required information. Fred lay in a pool of blood his eyes half closed and red like he'd been crying for a long time, his arm was split open and in the blood lay the birthday gift I had given him for his eighteenth birthday...

* * *

I shivered and Richard held me, the hospital had sent us away since we weren't family... I clung to Richard, oh god Fred why?

"Rhat's rong?"

I looked up to see Scooby and Melissa standing there looking confused;

"Your old pal Fred is in the hospital..."

Scooby looked shocked;

"The killer got him?"

I shook my head;

"No, today was the meeting and he came so did the girls, but he was very different from the Fred we knew...I think that meeting us once more sent him over the edge. Scooby he...he tried to kill himself."

Scoobys mouth dropped;

"No!"

I nodded;

"He used that razor we got him on his birthday."

"Rhat hospital?"

I shook my head and bared my face in Richards shirt;

"They sent us home since we aren't related to him."

* * *

"Fred tried to...I don't understand, that's not like him!"

I shook my head;

"Daphne, he tried to...If Richard hadn't convinced me to go to his place and try to talk to him he would have been dead."

She quickly turned and Velma held her;

"I can't believe it. Why would he do that?"

Surly she could think of a few reasons, but the main one...if Richard was right. If Fred had really liked me... I had broken him beyond repair.

"Ville, his parents just called… They said it's ok for us to visit now."

I nodded and ushered the girls into my car. Richard almost looked like he wanted to stay behind;

"Are you sure you don't want to come?"

He looked up;

"Would he...I don't think I can."

I nodded and drove to the hospital. Mrs. and Mr. Rodgers were standing at the entrance;

"It's good to see you all again, it's been a long time."

I bit my lip;

"How is he?"

Daphne asked meekly;

"The doctors have him on suicide watch but otherwise he's alright. They just want to keep him for a bit longer just in case."


	4. Chapter 4

**Crash and Burn**

**Chapter Four**

* * *

**Fred's P.O.V**

I stared out the window wishing I could jump out it. Why hadn't I died? Why did Richard have to save my life? Why was he even at my place?

"Fred how are you feeling?"

I looked to my mother, how ashamed she must be of me. I had tried to kill myself and I failed... Failed like I did at everything.

"I'm sorry mom..."

She shook her head;

"The old gang is here to see you."

I stiffened;

"Oh please no mom, I I can't see them."

Not if Shaggy was with them. Mom seemed confused;

"Honey they just want to see you, they're really worried about you and shaggy's pretty shaken up, him and his friend found you."

I took in a deep breath;

"If they must mother."

She nodded and walked out of the room Daphne flew into the room and was at my side in an instant closely followed by Velma.

"I am so glad you're alright Freddie! Please don't ever scare me like that again!"

I shook my head;

"I'm sorry Daph, I just...I didn't..."

Velma placed a hand on my forehead like she use to when she thought I was sick;

"It's ok Fred, you've been alone all these years and we...we didn't even check up on you. I'm sorry too...from now on we won't ever leave you."

I buried my face into my hands. I couldn't live and ruin their lives! I had to do this and they had to understand. At least they came...Shaggy hadn't bothered. Velma turned;

"Well are you going to tell him how worried you were? Didn't sleep a wink because of how worried you were?"

I looked to the door and spotted shaggy standing there looking like a child who'd been caught in the cookie jar.

"Fred?"

I looked away;

"If you want to come in I can't stop you."

I heard the low wine and then suddenly Scooby was on my bed, his large face in mine;

"Raggy was ro rorried about you that he rtayed up all night."

I closed my eyes, that couldn't be true...he didn't care about me, none of them did;

"Scooby get off the bed before they kick you out, and go get Shaggy will you?"

I opened my eyes and watched scooby leave, Shaggy had escaped when scooby had my attention. If he had wanted to leave what was the point of getting him?

"Fred, what's going on? You don't seem nearly that mad at us and we totally left you out of our lives too."

I Sighed did I have to even explain it?

'Honey he wasn't ever in love with us, hence not as mad, besides Shaggy was gone longer than us."

Velma?

"What are you talking about?"

They looked at me and Velma frowned;

"It wasn't hard to noticed Fred, you were so scared of telling him that you began to sperate us the way you did so you wouldn't be stuck with him, and you may have shared a room or the van but scooby was there so you didn't have to worry about being alone with him."

* * *

**Shaggy's P.O.V**

Scooby found me and tutted at me;

"Rtill after all rhese yearr?"

I looked away;

"Hey, it hurt that he thought I was with someone and that it hurt him. I thought it wasn't possible for him to love me, and have it brought to my attention that I was wrong for so long? Scooby old pal I loved him, Loved him so much that it hurt. I didn't even begin to guess that he liked me at all, I thought we were friends never capable of being more."


End file.
